Institutional Diversity in a New Nation:
Lessons Lived, Lessons Learned

Based on John Hope Franklin’s address,
“Defining Moments: A Historical Perspective on
Higher Education’s Engagement with Diversity,”
2006 AAC&U Diversity and Learning conference

John Franklin

As he opened the 2006 Diversity and Learning conference,
John Hope Franklin, James B. Duke Professor Emeritus
of History at Duke University, reflected on a past when
diversity was absent from the U.S. educational system
“because this country from its founding rejected
the notion” that such a thing was possible. Considering
the ranges of age, gender, race, and economic background
represented in the audience, the struggle for equality
might seem a distant memory. Yet, as Franklin reminded
the audience, institutions only too recently began enrolling
students of diverse backgrounds. As the history of racial
diversity in American education illustrates, the long
journey toward true equity is far from complete.

As Franklin recalled, racism in U.S. education can
be traced back to the words of our founding fathers.
When Thomas Jefferson wrote his Notes on the State of
Virginia, he cast into print an ideology of race that
was long used to justify barring black Americans from
education of any kind. Although some black children
were educated in northern regions, slave states (fearing
that their workers would revolt upon becoming enlightened)
conceived of attempts to educate blacks as criminal
acts. Runaways who had “learned about freedom,”
Franklin noted, “were followed to the end of the
earth.”

Within this context, a few brave institutions hoping
to “accomplish something that was greater than
themselves” arose to challenge popular practices.
Shortly before the Civil War, schools for blacks began
to appear in small numbers across the country. Soon
these institutions opened to welcome all students regardless
of race. Franklin stressed that these “historically
black colleges,” too often viewed as relics of
segregation, have always promoted diversity; they were,
in fact, pioneers in instituting the inclusive policies
we strive for today.

Despite these courageous early efforts, when the Civil
War began, education for all was neither a prevalent
nor an accepted practice. Franklin’s words about
that time remain relevant today: “What kind of
democracy was that? What kind of republic was that,
that felt that education was a special favor offered
to a few people?” It was, apparently, a democracy
and republic whose legacy persisted (and persists).
When, after the Civil War, black colleges proliferated,
whites supported their efforts often only because a
policy of separatism would prevent them from having
to diversify their own institutions. Thus many states
funded black colleges in an attempt to sustain segregation
in higher education, and the practice of segregation
remained standard.

Decades passed, and race relations in the U.S. very
slowly shifted; people were persecuted on the basis
of invisible bloodlines, and despite an early twentieth-century
push for “diversity,” little progress was
made until the movement to equalize educational opportunities
took hold. Not until Lyman Johnson applied for admission
to graduate school in 1948 at the University of Kentucky
was school segregation challenged in court. When Johnson
appealed to the NAACP, Thurgood Marshall enlisted John
Hope Franklin to investigate the libraries, curricula,
and personnel of Kentucky State College of Negroes to
show that indeed, the two state schools were separate—but
not equivalent. Brown v. Board of Education
followed Johnson’s case; it was notable, as Franklin
said, not for what it accomplished, but for how much
it failed to do. The immediate aftermath of Brown exposed
weaknesses in the Supreme Court’s authority; it
illustrated that the Court would quietly retreat when
pressed.

Concluding his summary of the history of racial diversity
in American education, Franklin stressed the need to
revisit lessons learned. As the case of Brown v.
Board of Education illustrates, diversity educators
must keep a “constant vigil” to be sure
that equitable laws are made and upheld. Diversity “can
mean many things”; “it can mean the opening
of all doors and becoming truly diverse, but it can
also mean covering discrimination with the cloak of
diversity.” Institutional leaders have made many
advances in removing that “cloak.” Nevertheless,
many doors remain to be opened on the journey toward
true equity.

To listen to a podcast of John Hope Franklin’s
address, “Defining Moments: A Historical Perspective
on Higher Education’s Engagement with Diversity,”
please visit www.aacu.org/Podcast/DL06_podcasts.cfm.

Questions, comments, and suggested resources should be directed to campbell@aacu.org.